Iron Chef: Siblings Edition

My youngest son (16) is interested in learning to cook. My oldest son (20) is on his semester break from college and is home all day, every day. Both boys were going to be home one day while I was going to be at work all day (7:30-6:00 pm). Solution? Iron Chef: Siblings Edition.

First I gathered a few random ingredients from around the house and placed them in a basket.

In the morning I left a note with the instructions. Required ingredients, free use ingredients, and the option to add 3 additional ingredients of their choice from around the house.  I wanted dinner on the table at 6:45.

I went to work and hoped for the best. My husband was working from home that day, so I figured at least the house wouldn’t burn down nor would the oldest wrestle his brother into submission for the use of any of the ingredients.

As dinner time approached, the texts began coming in.

This lost one was my favorite “extra ingredient.”

I don’t even need to ask where they get their snark from.

I also received a few texts from my husband about the sheer volume of the boys silliness as he was working. (Welcome to my life, Jay. Welcome!)

However, in the end, I came home to dinner on the table. The boys had fun, and no one died.

Both boys left out one require ingredient. (No Caleb, one noodle as garnish on your dish does not count, nor is apple cider vinegar an apple, Joel). They also ignored the rule that they could only use 3 additional ingredients and basically made dinner from what was around the house.

We used simple scoring sheets.

Joel googled the ingredients and made chuck wagon beef with pasta. Caleb made chili nachos and cinnamon apples. Both meals were good, but Joel’s tasted better and was closer the the boundaries I had set out.

The real winner was me. Not only didn’t I need to cook, but it was Jay’s dishes night.

I can see this happening again this summer.